This tale is a au/divergent retelling of the s5 underworld arc with a few key changes. Namely this is very much a Killian Jones centric tale. Jones brothers, Captain Swan and MiLiam (Milah/Liam) will form the emotional core of the story.
Essentially we've cut out the non-Killian centric parts of the underworld arc and fleshed out the killian-centric relationships and themes that they just didn't have time to in canon! (So, if you're for example a Rumple!Stan you may want to turn back now! We happily ignore most of his existence for the purposes of this story.)
The story will begin from Liam's perspective, many years ago in a place called Leviathan Shoals. This is based on a canon scene from the official ONCE comic (yes, there is one) and it can be found on Queen-Mabs-Revege's tumblr if you haven't seen it already: (post/164837822530/dead-in-the-water-killian-joness-tale-from-once)
CoWritten by Gusenitsaa and Pirate-owl with lots of help in the milah sections from JustMilah! Beta-ing and fun angsty seasoning provided by tw:icecubelotr44. Look at that cast of writers and take a deep breath. Cause we're so gunna make you pay for that happy ending with angst! It will be ~14 chapters long though this may vary a bit if we decide to move where any chapters begin/end.
Chapter 1
Leviathan Shoals was not a good place to live, but Liam Jones wasn't entirely convinced that living was exactly what he was doing. He only had vague recollections of arriving in the Shoals, and his recent memories seemed clouded by the mists. At least, he was blaming the mists for it. Maybe it was just the effects of having spent so long here alone that he started losing track of things.
The one good thing about those mists was that they brought ghosts to keep him company sometimes. Not ghosts, not really. Killian, at least was still alive.(And he would continue telling himself that until he believed it beyond any doubt or fear.) But the others whose shades came to walk with him were less fortunate. Most often it was Killian, though, who walked with him on the deck of this ghostly ship, in these ghostly waters. And it was Killian who always vanished into the mists, leaving Liam alone yet again.
It had been more than a month since the last time a familiar ship sailed into the shoals, at least that was his best estimation. He tried to keep track of time but it felt like he was slipping sometimes.
"Ahoy there!" Killian's voice called from Liam's former ship. Although this time it was festooned with pirate colors. A pirate flag was new, a shade of Killian sailing to the shoals was not. Liam stepped to the side of his own small new ship, catching sight of his brother on the Jewel of the Realm.
"It can't be…" Killian said.
"Killian? Brother, is that really you?" Liam asked. He knew better. The mists and his own loneliness had conjured Killian's form far too often for Liam to be fooled. But even so, some tiny, irrational hope sparked in his mind that this time, just this once, maybe it was real; maybe Killian was here to save him from these accursed waters.
"Liam, hang on," Killian called down, ordering a rope ladder lowered from the taller vessel.
He knew how the next part would go, convincing 'Killian' that he wasn't dead, hearing this particular version of how Killian had come to these waters. In the end the details didn't matter, Killian could have been speaking another language entirely and he'd have been happy just to hear the sound of his voice.
"The last time we were in these quarters," Killian was saying, "I held you in my arms as the Dreamshade's poison crept back into your veins. The magical waters from Neverland failed you once we were home…"
It was strange, Liam mused, how the phantasms of the shoals seemed so fixated on his apparent death. He'd had some variation on this conversation with some shade that looked like Killian nearly too many times to count now.
"I remember. I remember the pain of it…" Liam rubbed a hand across his forearm, feeling briefly an echo of remembered pain, but he carried on. "And the darkness. There were no dreams, no feeling…When I finally awoke, I found myself marooned on a desolate island. There was fresh water and abundant fishing, but no people, no landmarks I could recognize. The loneliness was almost too much. I don't know how long I was there before a boat arrived on the island's shores, blown off course during a storm. I begged them to let me on board. Though their vessel was small, they agreed, and I thought I was on my way back to you, Killian." The story came out with a practiced ease. He didn't particularly enjoy telling this tale, but the shades never let him skip it. And if it kept him in the same room as Killian for a few moments longer he'd tell Killian about every damn day. "But then a storm blew up, more ferocious than any I'd ever encountered… When the waves suddenly calmed, we thought we had been miraculously spared. We gave thanks to the gods of the sea. It was only once the madness struck the crew that I knew without a doubt where we were. ...The Leviathan Shoals. Hysteria spread amongst the men, each succumbing in turn as our attempts to escape the shoals failed. For each time we tried to flee, we were thwarted by the monstrous creature that inhabits this cursed realm of the ocean. I was the only one aboard my vessel who survived."
Liam's tale was interrupted by a knock at the cabin door, "Captain, a word?" a voice called.
Killian excused himself and as he left Liam couldn't help the smile that crossed his face at Lewis's voice. Doubtless the man had come to warn Killian that he wasn't real. He shook his head, reminding himself that this wasn't really Lewis and likely didn't share Lewis's superstitions. When Killian returned he had a stern expression on his face.
"What is it, brother?" Liam asked.
"The men are having a bit of difficulty believing you are not a phantom sent to drag us to the depths," Killian admitted, "as did I, at first."
Liam raised his eyebrows. None of the other shades had thought to question him so directly.
"At first?"
"I know my brother," Killian said quietly.
Liam swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded.
"So," Killian continued, voice stronger, "what easier way to show them you are no phantom then to get out of this place, aye brother?"
Liam had some difficulty hiding his surprise. Often the shades tempted him to stay, and now this one offers him aid in escaping? Before he could respond Killian had stood and was leading the way from the cabin.
"Alright men, gather 'round," Killian called, and Liam noticed an easy air of authority that was new. There were familiar faces and new ones. Some of the men looked at Liam with suspicion, others with hope, but most simply looked to Killian. "We'll be departing these shoals with haste. Now listen closely. We have one shot at defeating the creature who rules these shoals… This monster is used to one target at a time. But if that target should split into two… And if those two should then attack it...it might provide enough of a distraction. And buy us enough time to flee to honest waters."
"Attack it?" Liam asked, startled, "With what weapon, Killian?"
"Leave that to me," Killian smiled, "You'll find the Jewel of the Realm is far better armed now that she's the Jolly Roger."
The men scattered to make preparations and Liam found himself once more in the cabin with Killian, this time both bent over a chart. It was not accurate within the shoals, but Liam had made what corrections on it he could from too long spent in these waters.
Liam's vessel was the more vulnerable, but also the more maneuverable, and both vessels needed to be close enough to the edge of the shoals to manage an escape from a dangerous, wounded beast after the attack. It would not be an easy fight but with proper coordination Killian was confident they could pull it off. For the first time, Liam was beginning to share that confidence. He found himself watching Killian more than the chart, for the first time daring to hope that maybe this time it was real. This time he really had his brother back.
"The Jolly Roger is ready to set sail," Killian said, though something about his tone made it sound like an admission of guilt.
"Why do you say it like that, Killian?" Liam asked and when Killian looked at him there was a vulnerability in his eyes that had been hidden from him earlier.
"Because I'm afraid," Killian admitted, "Because I know it's the only way, but… Liam I just got you back, I don't want to let you off this ship."
Liam instinctively went to Killian, clasping his shoulder and pulling him into a hug. Protected from the sight of the crew, this embrace was different. Liam could feel the shaking of Killian's shoulders and he tightened his grip.
"I missed you," Killian said shakily, and something inside Liam shifted, something he'd not felt with any of the shades that had crossed his path. Something that screamed I know my brother, too.
"I missed you too, Killian," Liam said, his own voice not quite steady. "Every day, I missed you. But we're together now, that beast won't know what hit it."
Killian nodded, pulling away with a look of determination on his face. "Then there is no reason to tarry. The longer we linger, the less likely we'll take the creature by surprise." Liam nodded. Final preparations were made and all too soon Liam was back aboard his own ship.
"Good luck, brother," Killian called, "And know this… though you helm a different vessel, you will always be at my side."
"Awfully sentimental for a pirate, aren't you?" Liam teased.
"Just like an older brother, making jest of everything," Killian's words held no venom but Liam felt the need to respond in kind regardless.
"Well, hear this, for it is not in jest. Take care, Killian, and may luck be with you, too."
Luck was with them, everything went exactly according to plan. Killian's charges went off first and the Jolly Roger broke away towards freedom, open sea so close Killian could nearly taste it. Liam's went off moments later just as planned, the more maneuverable vessel retreating from the explosions as well as Liam had claimed that she could. But then something happened that they had not accounted for.
The wind shifted, and sparks showered onto the stern of Liam's vessel and it caught.
"Brother! Your boat! Look out! Liam!" Killian called across the waves. "Abandon ship! There's no time to lose! Jump and we'll haul you aboard!"
Liam had been half prepared to do just that, but he pulled back from the edge of the ship. It wasn't the first time some shade, more often than not wearing Killian's face, had tried to lure him into the water. Perhaps the beast's destruction was merely a specter also. His heart sank. For one bright moment there he had truly believed it was really his brother, had wanted to believe it so badly he had nearly cast aside all sense in this place of deceptions. "Are you mad, Killian? Who's to say there's not another sea beast lurking in these waters!"
"Then we'll send out a lifeboat!" the shade wearing Killian's face insisted. He could challenge the shade, tell the shade he knew it wasn't real. But he still wanted it to be real so badly it was almost painful.
"One of the monsters could swallow a lifeboat whole," Liam insisted. It would be so easy for the beast to devour him that way. "You have to come back with the Jolly Roger!" If it came back with a ship, it wouldn't matter if this Killian were a hallucination, or some trick, he would be on a ship and could sail, even if he would still be trapped in this cursed place.
"But we're so close to freedom," Killian insisted. It wanted Liam in the water so badly, he could hear the desperation in Killian's voice, in the shade's voice.
"There's no reason we have to leave tonight, Killian!" he called, sudden desperation in his voice too. It wasn't Killian, not really, but it was the closest thing Liam had to Killian in this damn place and he wasn't ready to lose him yet again. "Let's stay in the shoals a bit longer! Search out other lost souls who may be hidden in the mists. We can try for free waters another day. Please, come back for me."
There was a quiet discussion on the ship, Killian and Lewis, he thought, making a decision.
"Killian, no!" he called across the now quiet water. Tears stung his eyes as the ship turned, sailing for the horizon. "You left me once… Don't do it again! Please, don't go!"
It was all a trick, he reminded himself. As always. This was no different. The beast likely thought that desperation would drive him to dive into the water, faced with Killian's refusing to return. Perhaps even the fire was a figment, a trick to send him to the waves, to let the beast devour him. He reached out a hand to test that, but drew it back as he felt the heat on his skin.
His ship, his one safe haven in all this madness, was burning. He had a choice: to burn or to let the beast devour him. He could see no other options, no way to escape his demise one way or another. Some part of him wished the mists would rise, that he could see Killian's face once more, wouldn't have to be alone, even if it wasn't real, but he shook that thought aside. It had done all of this, had stolen his brother's face, had tricked him and manipulated him, all to get him into the water.
It was a ridiculous thought. It shouldn't matter to him whether the beast ate him or not. He would be dead either way. Choosing the more painful death just so the beast wouldn't win was ridiculous. It was… exactly the kind of stubborn thing Killian would do, if he were really here. He almost smiled at the thought. Of course Killian would. He looked out at the strange green waves instead of at the fire raging closer. "After all, a captain should go down with his ship," he said aloud.
"That's shockingly noble, coming from you." He wheeled at the voice and saw Hades, his hair aflame, striding calmly across the burning deck.
"You!" Liam snarled.
"Correct me if I'm wrong," Hades commented coolly, "but after the brief mutiny, you were technically the captain of the ship that went down with all hands, save yourself and your brother."
"What are you doing here? Because I'm not going to make another deal with you, not for just myself."
"So you might for your beloved brother? That's interesting. But no, I'm not here about that. Have you figured out you're already dead yet?"
A reflexive denial rose in him, but he pushed it aside, forced himself to look at the situation critically. As much as he would like to deny it, that would explain a lot, actually, like waking up sewn into a sail on that island, among other strange things in the Leviathan Shoals. He might have expected to have more of a reaction to the news, but he had spent his life closing off his own feelings and dealing with situations as they came. He had no intention of breaking that habit in death.
"If that's true, aren't you a little late?" Liam asked. "If I'm dead, it was probably the Dreamshade, and that was hardly recent. Why the delay?"
"Not the usual reaction to finding out you are dead," Hades said mildly. "There's usually a lot more 'no that can't be,' or 'we can't be because we're talking' not practical questions about timing. And speaking of practical, let's continue this conversation somewhere less on fire."
He grabbed Liam's shoulder. There was a flare of blue light, followed by a moment of darkness, before they reappeared in a dark room with stone walls. Liam stumbled, unaccustomed to a solid floor beneath his feet after so long at sea.
"My question stands," Liam said when he regained his footing.
"Of course it does. You were there to bait a trap, to help me gather the last survivor of a certain shipwreck."
"You were baiting Killian? With me?" Liam asked. He forced himself to calm down. He didn't know if it was even true. "Did it…?" He shook his head. "It didn't work. He always left. Killian is safe from you."
"Are you sure?" Hades asked. then leaned in closer. "You don't honesty believe your little brother capable of leaving you behind? After you begged him to come back for you?"
"Yes, I do," Liam retorted, pride in his voice. "Killian saw through your trick, even when I could not."
"Shall we go and check?"
"Check?"
"I returned you to the shoals once, I could do it again."
"Why would you do that?" Liam asked suspiciously. "If you intend to use me as bait again you will not succeed. I will not draw my brother back into those waters-"
"Oh, but you already have," Hades insisted with a predatory grin. The stone walls melted away and flames sprang up around them again, though this time he could not feel the heat from the flames.
"Why am I not-"
"Burning?" Hades supplied helpfully, "Because you're not here. Not really. Without a beating heart you cannot truly pass through to these waters. It was only my magic that allowed you to be seen and heard here in the land of the living. A favor I have not extended a second time."
"Then why are we here?" Liam's eyes darted to the horizon where he could still see his ship- his brother's ship -silhouetted against the sky. "He's leaving. You've failed."
"We'll see," Hades said, still smiling.
Liam's eyes locked onto the ship again and in an instant he realized why Hades grinned. The ship was growing larger.
"No-"
"Oh dear-" Hades taunted.
Liam looked around the deck of the ship, finding the box of explosives he'd used against the beast. There wasn't much left and it was still beyond the reach of the flames creeping along the deck. If he could throw it into the flames, perhaps the resulting explosion would convince Killian it was too late. Maybe he would turn around, make for safer waters again. Liam rushed towards the box and bent to lift it, but however hard he tried he could not move the box.
"What part of 'not really here' was unclear?" Hades asked.
"Let him go," Liam begged. "I'll do anything, just let him go-"
"And what do you think you have to offer me for such a favor?" Hades chuckled. "You're dead, I own you already. And I'd really like the set."
The ship was making incredible speed towards them, the wind, itself, seeming to want to draw the ship back into cursed waters. Before long he could see Killian clearly on the deck again. A larger man was speaking to him insistently. Lewis, probably. He'd been with Liam for longer than any other on the crew, long before Liam had been made captain. He was a good sailor, Lewis, but he'd no designs on leadership, content with his place as a man before the mast. And he was as superstitious as they come. For the first time Liam blessed the man's willingness to believe in all the demons of the sea. But Liam's hopes were dashed when Killian spun on Lewis and said something which had the man shrinking back. With a resignation that Liam could read in the man's shoulder's even without being able to hear his words, Lewis retreated from Killian's side.
"Damn them," Liam cursed under his breath. Why don't they refuse him? Why don't they see this for what it is and stop him? Tie him to the bloody mast if they have to until the madness has passed. "Damn their loyalty to the depths-"
"I intend to," Hades responded, a note of amusement in his voice that sent a chill down Liam's spine.
He could hear voices now, distant, but growing clearer at every moment.
"No one on deck, Captain," someone called.
"He may have leapt into the sea," Killian called back. "He's a strong swimmer, search the waters. Find him."
"KILLIAN!" Liam cried. "It's a trick. Make for safer waters!"
There was no response from the rapidly approaching ship and Hades rolled his eyes. "Yell yourself hoarse, he can't hear you."
"Not too close," Killian cried. "Do not let the flames spread. Bring buckets."
A line of buckets began to appear on the edge of the deck. But they didn't try to put out the flames on the burning ship, recognizing it to be a lost cause, merely standing in readiness should the flames blow their way.
"Liam!?" Killian called over the roaring of the flames. "LIAM!?"
Killian bent and took one of the buckets, dumping it over his head.
"NO!" Liam called, knowing Killian couldn't hear him but desperate to stop him regardless.
"Cut the rope as soon as I land-" Killian ordered.
"But Captain-"
"Do as you are ordered or the Jolly will burn and it will be your skin on the line if we survive."
Before the man could argue, Killian had leaped from the ship, sliding down the line to the smaller vessel using the rope to slow his descent. No sooner had he landed than the rope caught fire, the flames zipping up the oils on the line with terrifying rapidity, only to be harmlessly extinguished as the severed end dropped into the sea.
Killian was already moving, wrapping a wet rag around his mouth and nose and moving as close to the flames as he dared. He kicked the box of remaining explosives overboard as Liam ran towards him.
"LIAM?" Killian called, making for the hatch to the hold which was still out of the reach of the flames, though not for long. The flames crept ceaselessly along the wood of the deck. He flung open the hatch and recoiled when hot smoke poured from the hold. "LIAM?" Killian called again.
Liam reached for Killian's shoulder as he hesitated outside the hatch, clearly trying to decide if he should risk descending to search below.
"Do you think it will be the flames that take him, or the smoke?" Hades taunted.
"If I were there I'd be long dead, Killian," Liam said, frustration rising as Killian did not respond to the pressure at his shoulder. "Come on, brother, I taught you better than this."
Killian hesitated only a moment longer and cursed under his breath, finally coming to the same conclusion. He turned and ran for the side of the ship, diving into the water and swimming to the rope ladder his men dropped over the side. Liam couldn't help the proud smile on his face as Killian climbed back aboard and the ship began to retreat from the burning vessel, but one look at Hades killed his elation.
"Not over yet," Hades said and Liam looked up again… tentacles were creeping up the side of the ship yet unnoticed by the crew.
Finally someone called the alarm. "KRAKEN!"
The men jumped to defend the ship, cutting at limbs with sword and ax as they crept over the ship's deck. There were too many. In moments, the ship was trapped helplessly in the grip of giant tentacles which tightened relentlessly.
"Let's get a closer look, shall we?" Hades offered, putting a hand on Liam's shoulder and in the blink of an eye he was on the Jewel's familiar deck and racing to his brother's side again, for all the good it would do.
Killian was still trying to cut away one of the tentacles when a loud shudder ripped through the vessel and a crack echoed across the water. Liam flinched and Killian froze, a look of shock crossing his face as the cries from the crew began to echo out around him.
"Taking on water, Captain-"
"She's going down, Cap-" There was naked grief on Killian's face as he realized the ship was beyond his power to save.
"What do we do, Killian?" The last call was Lewis and it seemed to shake Killian from his shocked inaction.
"ABANDON SHIP, get the lifeboats free, NOW!" he called. The stern of the ship began to break away and sink as the men rushed to the boats. Killian fought his way toward them, but a giant arm from the creature flew from the water, knocking him down and trapping him against the deck as it gripped the vessel. Lewis was at his side in a moment, hacking away at the monstrous limb, but the creature was too strong. The blows had little effect except to seemingly enrage the creature; more limbs thrashed out trying to send Lewis flying into the sea.
"Get the men into the boats, Lewis," Killian cried.
"Not going to leave you, Captain, not a chance." Lewis dropped to his side and tried to pry Killian loose, only succeeding in eliciting a cry of agony from Killian.
"That's an order," Killian growled. The man hesitated still and Liam had never loved him more in all his life.
"Killian-"
"Please, Lewis," Killian said, finally, "Do not let their blood be on my hands, too."
"Aye." Lewis rocked back on his heels, face pained. "That burden is no longer yours, my captain, but mine."
He gave Killian a salute, a strange, archaic thing from one man in a pirate's garb to another but one Liam recognized instantly from their days in the Royal Navy. Killian nodded gratefully at Lewis and the man stood and ran back towards the hesitating crew.
"Get the bloody boats in the water, you fools," Lewis cried as Liam sank down to the deck next to Killian. Finally without an audience, Killian fell back to the deck. His legs were pinned so tightly he didn't even try to struggle.
"I'm sorry, brother," Killian murmured, his eyes closing, and for a moment Liam hoped that his brother could hear his voice.
"No, Killian, it is I who-" Liam started, but Killian continued speaking, Liam's words incapable of reaching him.
"Will you forgive me for being a damn fool when I join you in the deep?"
Liam could vaguely hear Hades laughing from the other side of the deck, but ignored him. Even if Killian could not see him, he would not die alone.
Liam tried to brush Killian's hair from his eyes, as he once had for a child afraid of the dark, but Hades would not grant him even that small gesture of comfort. He combed his fingers into his brother's hair anyway, and rubbed his thumb across the back of Killian's hand where it lay on the deck.
The deck shifted under them and water flowed over their joined hands as the Jewel… the Jolly, began to dip beneath the surface.
"Sure you want to watch this?" Hades' voice taunted, but Liam ignored him, his eyes locked on his brother.
"I'm right here, Killian," he murmured, knowing Killian couldn't hear him but hoping that somehow he could feel that he was not alone. "I love you, brother." He repeated the words over and over as the water deepened, swirling around, tugging and pulling at them.
Suddenly something shifted and the ship slipped, plunging them both under the cold water. A survivor's instinct made Killian fight now, trying desperately to free himself from the creature's grip. Liam could feel his own lungs burning with a remembered need for air. An added cruelty; Hades' little joke, perhaps, that his dead lungs could now feel his brother's pain. Finally Killian gasped, his need for air overriding his mind's knowledge that none would come. His body seized up, coughing and choking and struggling for freedom for one final moment before going limp.
Liam's eyes stung, from the salt water, or perhaps the tears that he knew were being lost to the sea as he clung to Killian. Suddenly, his brother was torn away and Liam found himself coughing and gasping on the stone floor of the room Hades had taken him from.
"Where is he?" Liam demanded desperately as soon as his lungs cleared the water enough to speak. Killian's form appeared on the cold stone floor. He was soaked and pale and as still as the stones.
"No!" Liam cried, rushing forward and falling at his brother's side "No, no, no, please, no. Killian?" Killian wouldn't wake, however much Liam begged him to open his eyes. Liam gathered his cold body up into his arms, rocking slowly back and forth, tears streaming unchecked down his face.
"Oh, but isn't this what you wanted?" Hades asked in a sickly sweet tone. "For him to come back for you? Congratulations. Here he is, Just as you wanted."
"No," Liam said. "This… no. It's a trick of the mists, nothing more. It has to be a lie." For all the determination he forced into the words, he clung to Killian's body still, gently brushing the damp hair from his closed eyes.
"You're probably right," Hades taunted. "Surely a lie. After all, Killian would never be so foolish as to return to cursed waters when his beloved brother begs him to… right, Captain?"
Hades waved his hand and Killian's body faded from Liam's arms, leaving him sitting alone on the floor of the cell, clutching desperately at empty air.
Hades left him alone with his thoughts then, left him alone to wonder if he saw the truth when Killian sailed away, or if he saw the truth with his brother's body cold on the floor of this very cell.
The second time Hades took him to the shoals Liam was damn near relieved. If it were happening again, it couldn't have been real, right?
Hades chose that moment to conveniently remind him that nothing would stop the shoals from showing him visions of an already dead pirate. Then reminding him that he'd thought his brother a phantom once before and look what a mess that had made. What if this time it's real? Each time he would watch Killian's ship turn around and come back for him, and each time something went horribly wrong.
Hades had learned quickly that Liam's indifference to physical pain shattered when it was his brother's pain he was feeling. So his own lungs burned as Killian breathed in the smoke from the flaming ship, his own skin prickled and blistered when Killian drew too near the flames. A physical reminder of what Liam's thoughtless plea was costing Killian.
It wasn't the last time he'd watch Killian die, that he'd feel Killian die.
Sometimes it was the smoke that took him, while Killian searched the hold for his brother's body, slowly being overtaken by the fumes until he sank to the ground, dead before the flames even reached him. Sometimes the flames reached the box of explosives before Killian could kick them from the deck and the ship was engulfed in flame with Killian still aboard. Sometimes the Kraken choked away Killian's life, sometimes a splinter of shattering mast left him bleeding out on the deck. Hades' creativity seemed limitless, and each time Liam was right there with him, feeling every blow, every lick of flame, every choking breath of smoke or water. When it was finally over he was left alone in that stone cell with the wrecked body of the boy he loved so much more than his own life. His tears coursed freely down his cheeks and he hoped silently, desperately that it wasn't real. Couldn't be real.
The first time Killian's ship escaped the Kraken, Liam was so far gone that instead of relief he felt only foreboding . Hades remained on the deck of the ship with them, his mere presence daring Liam to hope that this time… maybe this time...
The crew revolted against Killian as they neared the edge of the shoals, for putting them in such peril. It was Lewis who suggested keelhauling as a fitting punishment and it was that which convinced Liam beyond all doubt that this time, it was not real. He threw himself over the side of the boat, determining in less than a second that he'd rather drown again than have to watch even a shade of Killian suffer such a cruel fate.
It didn't stop the lacerations that opened up along his back and shoulders, scored through skin and into muscle by the barnacles that shredded his little brother's flesh, a brutal, burning reminder that there was nowhere he could go to escape Hades' power.
When he was returned to the stone room he was alone.
Killian had been there every other time. Normally, Hades waited until his tears had all dried up and he was an exhausted shell of a man still clinging to Killian before his body vanished from Liam's arms and the door swung open, Hades' taunting invitation to go back to his bar. Until next time. This time the door was already open.
Liam never thought he was capable of hoping to see Killian in such a state, but a sudden horror ripped through him. Why was this time different?
"HADES! Where is he?" Liam cried.
There was no reply, the only evidence of Killian's fate the burning agony along his back and shoulders, wounds that had always before perfectly mirrored Killian's. He struggled painfully to his feet, the torn flesh across his back protesting this new abuse, and made for the open door but no one stopped him.
Hades did not return.
A sinking, nauseated feeling was settling in his stomach. It was different, why was it different? He'd been so certain that it wasn't real moments ago when he dove from the ship, but now a nagging doubt tugged at the back of his mind. The mists drove men to madness, and Lewis was surely no exception. Liam swallowed hard, horror rising.
What if it was different because this time- What if Hades had finally let him see his real brother. And he'd abandoned him, left him to die alone as he'd sworn he never would?
He made his way slowly and painfully back to the bar, half expecting at any moment to hear Hades' taunting voice, but there was nothing. Nothing save a few sympathetic looks from unfamiliar faces who nevertheless knew the look of a man who'd been on the wrong side of Hades' attentions.
He picked up a pair of scissors from behind the bar as he moved through the empty room towards the tiny apartment behind it, knowing that the shirt was already ruined and not worth the agony it would be to lift his hands over his head right now. He cut the shirt carefully up the side and peeled it off, wincing as the wet fabric tugged across torn skin. The cold shower was rarely much of a comfort and it hurt more than he anticipated, stealing the unneeded breath from his lungs. But at least it washed away most of the sickening scent of blood.
Without anyone to properly bandage the wounds he couldn't reach he knew they would scar badly, but he couldn't bring himself to care. There was no one to do it anyway, certainly no one he trusted to see him in this state. So when he pulled himself from the cold shower he only managed to half dress before he stopped, throwing the shirt he'd been about to tug over the open wounds onto the floor.
"Why?" he asked himself, or maybe Hades, should he be listening. Because the bar was due to be opened in half an hour? He shook his head, exhausted, and lay face down on his cot. "Screw him," he muttered into his pillow. What is he going to do, hurt me?
The bar didn't open again for three days.
His wounds healed, mostly. Scars had never bothered him much before. He'd gathered a fair few during his life, more often than not they were each a mark that Killian would never have to wear. The fresh scars from the day he'd abandoned Killian made him sick to see in the mirror, nearly covering the ones that he'd once borne as a badge of honor.
From that moment forward, Liam knew he'd no choice but to find a way to destroy the deranged Hades. If Killian really was down here, somewhere, beyond his reach- he never let himself finish that thought.
He mapped every square inch of the Underworld; buildings and streets, though those were constantly shifting and changing. He paid particular attention to the forests and caverns, which seem to remain more or less the same as the years dragged by. He spent his nights making his way through the labyrinth below the city, documenting every dead end, every false passage, every trap waiting in the dark. Until finally he found something worth finding.
Or Hades was messing with him. He had to know Liam had been poking around, closer and closer to his sanctum. It might be a trick, to distract him, it might be a children's story with no echo in reality but maybe it was something more. Something he'd want to keep close. Liam searched every nook and cranny of Hades lair and beyond. but the object of the story remained elusive.
Every nook and cranny save one. Liam hesitated outside the stone room for what felt like hours when he ran out of other places to look. Hades would certainly find him if he didn't move but he found himself frozen. The door was open, like it had been the last time he'd been here. And just beyond that doorway could be the key to Hades downfall. Liam started forward again then stopped as suddenly as if he'd hit a brick wall. There was no wall. Just the memory of a broken boy, broken so many ways, so many times. Just the memory of countless tears shed on the floor of this cell. Just the smell of smoke and the taste of seawater and the crack of a dying ship- Liam took a step back. Surely Hades wouldn't keep something of such importance here? The door wasn't even locked, wasn't even closed. Liam took another step back, then another and then he ran.
A part of him almost wanted Hades to catch him, to take him back to Leviathan Shoals, to convince him that there was nothing special about that last time. But he was never taken back to the shoals.
Hades never came.
A/N: well that was cheerful! Angsty backstory for the win. We'll be adding some new characters to our underworld cast next chapter! We were thinking of doing weekly updates, but we'll probably post chapter two sooner because after all that angst we know we owe you a touch of humor in apology :P
So... Whose our next visitor to the underworld?
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